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5 legendary speakers?

I have recently read Ken Kessler's old but still wonderful review of Sonus Faber Extremas. He ends the review by saying that "It is one of a handful of loudspeakers which qualify as legends."

I own a pair of Extremas, and I agree with Kessler's statement. Now, I am curious to know what other audiophiles consider "legendary speakers" based on their own experience. I would define legendary speakers as ones that are path breaking, that redefined the frontier of sound quality that is affordable by the average audiophile (I know, it's a vague definition). Let me give my list of 5 legendary speakers. These are all old speakers I would live with today.

1. Quad ESL 57
2. Klipsch K-Horn
3. Thiel CS5i
4. Sonus Faber Extrema
5. Sonus Faber Amati
ggavetti
rgs92
958 posts
 
Hey HifiHarv, I had the A25 when I was a teenager & loved them for years (with an AR receiver with that great FM tuner in there).
But I have not heard anyone mention the KLH 17 ever, which I used with the KLH 20 compact stereo and thought were great--tight and fast and tuneful to my young ears (great for 3 dog night). I never heard why people liked the more expensive KLH 6s, which bored me and were boomy with no definition and a missing midrange.

(I also liked the Scott S15 while we're at it.)
wolf_garcia
4,650 posts
 
I had a pair of Altec A7s in the 70's...both for live sound and stereo stuff...they were sweet and I have no clue how accurate they were but they had a very appealing sound...with Phase Linear amps...oh yeah...
elviukai's avatar
elviukai
135 posts
 
easy, here we go-
quad esl57,
tannoy gold monitors,
wilson audio puppies,
magnepan,
s-90.
martykl
3,563 posts
 
How about 2 hands full?
Parentheticals reflect my first personal encounter w/each

Quad 57 (first 'stat)
Wilson WAMM (first SOTA assault)
Advent Large (first "highish end" encounter in best friend's older brother's system)
Vandersteen 2 (early high end audition that blew me away)
MBL 101 (First "show-stopper" at audio show)
Rogers LS 35a (BBC legend at local store)
Maggie Tympani (main attraction at Lyric, NYC's better than the customer boutique of it's day)
B&W 801 (as above - substitute Sound by Singer for Lyric)
ProAc Tablette (first demo of 3d imaging from a minimonitor)
and.....
Kef Corelli (my first high end speaker - the prototypical English design of midband uber alles)

Ten speakers that I first encountered 10+ years ago. I can recall the exact time/place that I first heard each. IMHO, each made a significant design statement that stands to this day.

Marty
martykl
3,563 posts
 
Oops - it wasn't B&W 801s at Sound by Singer (see previous post), it was the Focal Grand Utopia. How soon we (I) forget!

Marty
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